The metalwork shape of this dish reveals it to be the design of the silversmith Nicholas Sprimont. He was the proprietor of the Chelsea factory. Such expensive dishes were made for light use as dessert services. They also had a secondary role as display objects. J. H. O'Neale decorated the dish with one of the ever-popular Aesop's Fables.

Physical description

Plate of soft-paste porcelain, painted with enamels and moulded in relief, with a scene from Aesop's fable The Fox, the Dog and the Cockrepresented as a landscape with a river and mountains, and the rim is moulded with shell ornament and painted with detached flowers.

Place of Origin

Chelsea, England (made)

Date

ca. 1753-1755 (made)

Artist/maker

Sprimont, Nicholas (probably, modeller)
O'Neale, J. H. (painter)

Materials and Techniques

Soft-paste porcelain painted with enamels and moulded decoration in relief